When my husband does the laundry, bless his heart, his solution to the odd sock leftover at the end: match them as closely as possible, then bundle them into pairs and Put. Them. Back. Into. Circulation. Like. That. What is an anal person like me to do but surrender myself to sock-inspired homicide?

DottyC and Tracy -Now I have to admit that while it might SEEM like a good idea to get MrM matching socks that might mean that I had to do horrible things like negotiate mobile phone contracts etc etc.

GMS - our odd sock mountain is a private grief and I suggest that it stays that way.

I really hate to--no, wait--what the usually quite charming and caring (I'm sure he is) MR.M was suggesting was that you wash them more often.

Please tell Mr. M, with all due respect of course, that in Wisconsin USA there's a law that states that each and every person in a family unit must have 32 socks in pairs to his and her names. The 32 is for "just in case."

When they're all dirty, then each and every family member marches in turn to the washing machine, loads it with their socks, turns it on, and waits till it's done, then into the dryer, and then Voila! there they are, all ready for their owners to match them up and fold them neatly and return them also neatly to their bureau drawers.

Yep. That's the law in Wisconsin, USA.(Wooly Mammoths also wander to and fro in Wisconsin USA too...)